Group, Standing Rock citizen support halt to pipeline construction

Saundi Kloeckener, wearing a red bandana, led Sunday’s ceremony in West Alton, Missouri, instructing about 40 participants how to pray to the water. Every Sunday morning a group gathers there to perform a water ceremony, which offers prayers to the water. This time though the group supported the Sioux Standing Rock Indian Reservation in its effort to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Katelyn Petrin|For The Telegraph

Participants in Sunday’s ceremony in West Alton, Missouri, offered prayer and support in a mission of solidarity this weekend to resist construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that ultimately will reach Southwest Illinois. Among the activities during the ceremony, people participated in a “smudging” ritual, pictured, praying to the water, “cleansing” with smoke from a bundle of herbs, taking a pinch of tobacco and passing cups of water around a circle. Ceremony leaders sung to the Mississippi River, beating drums.

Bold Iowa Director Ed Fallon, and former Iowa senator, was among those arrested at the Dakota Access construction site in Boone County, Iowa. More than 50 participated Saturday in nonviolent civil disobedience to stop construction that is using eminent domain, according to a news release from Fallon and Bold Iowa. Also arrested were several landowners on the pipeline route.

The arrests were the second direct action taken by some of the more than 2,100 people who have signed the Bakken Pipeline Pledge of Resistance, supported by Bold Iowa, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, CREDO Action, and 100 Grannies for a Livable Future.

Thirty people were arrested in a direct action Aug. 31 in Boone County. Following that action, Dakota Access filed suit against Bold Iowa and Iowa CCI, along with Fallon and others, seeking a restraining order, Fallon stated.

A hearing on the restraining order filed against Bold and ICCI by Dakota Access is scheduled in federal court on Sept. 29.

WEST ALTON, M0. — Native Americans who regularly gather on the Mississippi River’s banks on Sundays performed a mission of solidarity this weekend to resist construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that ultimately will reach Southwest Illinois.

Every Sunday morning in West Alton, Missouri, a group gathers to perform a water ceremony, which offers prayers to the water. This time though the group supported the Sioux Standing Rock Indian Reservation in its effort to halt construction of the pipeline near their lands.

“Whatever you believe, believe that this water was given to us to take care of,” explained “water walker” Saundi Kloeckener, who’s involved with the event’s organizing group, Native Women’s Care Circle. “This isn’t an action; this is a prayer ceremony.”

Participant Sharon Orlet emphasized this idea, which has become a common refrain among people speaking out against the pipeline.

“We’re protectors of the water; we are not protesters,” Orlet said. “We have to say, ‘No,’ to pollution and, ‘Yes,’ to water.”

Standing Rock Reservation’s Philip McDowell came to West Alton to join Sunday’s ceremony.

“So many of the people up there depend on the river for their water, for the animals, the cattle, the horses,” he said. “Water is our life, and that’s what we’re here for — to defend it and keep the oil company from desecrating our families that are buried up there.”

He explained a number of concerns. He said that the construction has violated several treaties by destroying ground that is sacred to the reservation, and that people worry the pipeline will burst where it crosses the Missouri River, affecting everyone along its banks. McDowell’s own family was buried in an area that was bulldozed by construction last week, he noted.

But the issue doesn’t only affect the Standing Rock Reservation, he said.

“The people here should be concerned,” McDowell said.

The pipeline will run from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. According to a news release from Dakota Access LLC, the project will generate $2 billion in tax revenue between four states, as well as thousands of short-term jobs and 160 permanent full-time jobs. But McDowell and others worry that the environmental costs may not be worth the benefits, he explained.

Dakota Access did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The pipeline has been contested for several months, but the controversy has become increasingly visible in the past few weeks. On Friday, the Obama administration announced that the pipeline construction would be temporarily postponed, but that has not alleviated the concerns of many citizens.

“There’s more people connected and involved with this now. It’s growing,” Kloeckener explained. “And, it’s not something that one person is doing. Everybody is going, ‘Oh, I’m connected to this.’”

Kloeckener led Sunday’s ceremony, instructing about 40 participants how to pray to the water. People “cleansed” themselves with smoke from a bundle of herbs, took a pinch of tobacco, then passed cups of water around a circle. The ceremony leaders sung to the river, beating drums.

Several fishermen stopped to watch the ceremony and appeared to join in praying before leaving the river bank.

After each person prayed, they released their tobacco into the river.

“We want our kids to have something good. That’s why we’re doing this whole thing,” said Kloeckener, echoing a sentiment offered by several others who spoke during the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, Kloeckener encouraged participants to wash their hands and clean off their feet before touching their faces. The water here, she said, had already been polluted by the industrial plants nearby.

“Remember,” said Kloeckener, “there’s life in there.”

Saundi Kloeckener, wearing a red bandana, led Sunday’s ceremony in West Alton, Missouri, instructing about 40 participants how to pray to the water. Every Sunday morning a group gathers there to perform a water ceremony, which offers prayers to the water. This time though the group supported the Sioux Standing Rock Indian Reservation in its effort to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

http://thetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_1a-aaaaaapipe1.jpgSaundi Kloeckener, wearing a red bandana, led Sunday’s ceremony in West Alton, Missouri, instructing about 40 participants how to pray to the water. Every Sunday morning a group gathers there to perform a water ceremony, which offers prayers to the water. This time though the group supported the Sioux Standing Rock Indian Reservation in its effort to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Katelyn Petrin|For The Telegraph

Participants in Sunday’s ceremony in West Alton, Missouri, offered prayer and support in a mission of solidarity this weekend to resist construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that ultimately will reach Southwest Illinois. Among the activities during the ceremony, people participated in a “smudging” ritual, pictured, praying to the water, “cleansing” with smoke from a bundle of herbs, taking a pinch of tobacco and passing cups of water around a circle. Ceremony leaders sung to the Mississippi River, beating drums.

http://thetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_1a-aaaaaapipe2.jpgParticipants in Sunday’s ceremony in West Alton, Missouri, offered prayer and support in a mission of solidarity this weekend to resist construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that ultimately will reach Southwest Illinois. Among the activities during the ceremony, people participated in a “smudging” ritual, pictured, praying to the water, “cleansing” with smoke from a bundle of herbs, taking a pinch of tobacco and passing cups of water around a circle. Ceremony leaders sung to the Mississippi River, beating drums. Katelyn Petrin|For The Telegraph

Bold Iowa Director Ed Fallon, and former Iowa senator, was among those arrested at the Dakota Access construction site in Boone County, Iowa. More than 50 participated Saturday in nonviolent civil disobedience to stop construction that is using eminent domain, according to a news release from Fallon and Bold Iowa. Also arrested were several landowners on the pipeline route.

The arrests were the second direct action taken by some of the more than 2,100 people who have signed the Bakken Pipeline Pledge of Resistance, supported by Bold Iowa, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, CREDO Action, and 100 Grannies for a Livable Future.

Thirty people were arrested in a direct action Aug. 31 in Boone County. Following that action, Dakota Access filed suit against Bold Iowa and Iowa CCI, along with Fallon and others, seeking a restraining order, Fallon stated.

A hearing on the restraining order filed against Bold and ICCI by Dakota Access is scheduled in federal court on Sept. 29.

Katelyn Petrin is a freelance reporter and photographer for the Telegraph.

Katelyn Petrin is a freelance reporter and photographer for the Telegraph.